Topic: Audio System for Technical Readings
Time: 13:15
Date: 17 January, 1994
Place: 5130 Upson
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                               Abstract
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The  advent of electronic documents makes  information  available in
more than  its visual form ---electronic information can  now  be 
display-independent.  
We  describe  a computing system, AsTeR, that
{\em audio formats\/}  electronic documents  to produce  
audio documents. 
AsTeR  can speak 
 both literary texts and highly technical documents
(presently in La)TeX) that contain  complex mathematics.

Visual communication is characterized by the eye's ability to actively
access parts of a two-dimensional  display.  The reader is active, while the
display   is passive.  This active-passive role is reversed by
the temporal nature of oral communication:  information flows
actively past a passive listener.  This prohibits multiple views
---it is impossible to first obtain a high-level view and then
``look'' at  details.  These shortcomings
become  severe when presenting complex mathematics orally.

Audio formatting, which  renders information structure
in a manner attuned to an auditory display, overcomes these
problems.  AsTeR is  interactive, and  the ability to browse
information structure and obtain multiple views enables
{\em active\/} listening.

--Raman